Ice Storm and Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 17, 2002

Name: Ice Storm and Heavy Snow in Alaska, December 17, 2002
Start: 2002-12-17T00:00
End: 2002-12-17T23:59
Location: Alaska

December 17, 2002 · NWS AFC · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

2 inches of freezing rain in that area. Across the southern Kenai Peninsula, snowfall at midday around Homer ranged from 6 inches in town to 8 inches along the Bluff.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS AFC wrote it up.

Overrunning across a modified arctic airmass resulted in areas of freezing rain around Girdwood and heavy snows across portions of the southern Kenai Peninsula on Tuesday.Around Girdwood, spotter reports indicated about .2 inches of freezing rain in that area. Damage reports so far are unavailable.Across the southern Kenai Peninsula, snowfall at midday around Homer ranged from 6 inches in town to 8 inches along the Bluff. Total snowfall on the Bluff reached 1 foot.Elsewhere across the southern Kenai Peninsula, snowfall reached 16" at higher elevations around Seldovia with the community receiving 10 inches, 12 inches at Stariski Creek, 6 to 8 inches at Ninilchik, out along Oil Well Road and at the Anchor River Inn.Snowfall became light and intermittent after 4 pm Tuesday, stopping just before 10 pm that same evening.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Anchorage, AK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 16, 9:00 PM AST, 3 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 16, 9:00 PM AST, 3 hours before

SOUTH/SOUTHWEST ALASKA FORECAST DISCUSSION
900 PM AST MON DEC 16 2002

.DISCUSSION...965MB LOW OVER THE NORTHERN GULF HAS BEEN DRIFTING
SLOWLY WEST OVER THROUGH TODAY. NCEP MODELS AND UKMET CONTINUE
WITH THIS TREND AND MOVE CENTER TO JUST SOUTH OF THE KENAI PEN
TUE NIGHT. CENTRAL PRESSURE DROPS TO THE UPPER 980S AT THIS TIME.
STRONG GAP WINDS OVER THE KENAI PEN ARE PRODUCING BLIZZARD
CONDITIONS. EXPECT WINDS WILL SLOWLY DIMINISH THROUGH TUE
AFTERNOON.

SEVERAL CENTERS IN THE LOW COMPLEX OVER THE BERING SEA WERE
EVIDENT ON THE MOST RECENT SAT PIC AS WELL AS WIDESPREAD
OPEN/CLOSED CELL CU. MODEL RESOLUTION AS NORMAL IS UNABLE TO
CAPTURE VARIETY. HOWEVER...MODELS PICK UP MORE DOMINATE CENTER
WEST OF THE PRIBILOFS AND ELONGATE ITS TROF TO OVER THE AK PEN
TUE. LOW CENTER THEN ROTATES NORTHWEST AS NEXT BIG SYSTEM MOVES
TO THE WESTERN ALEUTIANS LATE TUE. GMS SAT IMAGERY THIS EVENING
SHOWS THIS SYSTEM JUST EAST OF JAPAN THIS EVENING AND TAKING
SHAPE. EXPECT CENTER TO BE SOUTH OF PASY WITH A PRESSURE IN THE
UPPER 940S TUE NIGHT AND NEAR 57N 178E WED NIGHT.

.AFC...WATCH/WARNING SUMMARY
PUBLIC...BLIZZARD WARNING ZONE 125.
         HIGH WIND WATCH ZONE 191.
MARINE...GALE 2C4,3A,3B,3C,5A,12B,13, AND 15.
RMC DEC 02

Event by event

1 ice storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Ice Storm, Wrn P.W. Snd & Kenai Mtns

When: December 17, 12:00 AM AST to 11:59 PM AST
Where: Wrn P.W. Snd & Kenai Mtns forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Kenai Peninsula

When: December 17, 12:00 AM AST to 10:00 PM AST
Where: Kenai Peninsula forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

What these are

Ice Storm: Freezing rain accumulating a quarter inch or more of ice, or less where it caused significant damage.
Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alaska in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Alaska, December 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5323411, 5323412.